Sunday, February 1, 2009

True Joy and True Sorrow

Sometimes I wonder why we get to know and love someone when we know eventually they will no longer be around.

This past August we celebrated my grandparents' 50th anniversary by throwing them a surprise weekend at the camp where they met. Among the guests, many of whom were a surprise, was my mom's cousin (my grandparents' nephew), Bobby, and his two teenage children. I had only met Bobby once before at my great-grandmother's funeral. During that time I got to know and love Bobby and his children. They were so fun to hang around, so full of energy. Bobby had the most gentle spirit in the world. He was so nice and so sweet. I was so thankful he came, as was the rest of my family, so we could reconnect with him and get to know him and his children. It was only just before this family get together that we found out Bobby had cancer and he only had a small time left.

Saturday Bobby suffered a stroke and was put into a medically induced coma. On the way to a family party for my dad's side my grandfather called my mom and told her Bobby only had a short time left and they were driving down to see him.

At 1:00am Bobby passed away. He went home.

I am so thankful for that time in August to get to know this wonderful man and my heart aches for his children who no longer have a father to teach them how to drive, to celebrate more birthdays with, to go to graduations, to walk her down the aisle and stand beside him when he gets married.

Why do we get to know someone when they will only ever be taken from us ultimately? We get to know them for all the happy times in between. To know what true joy is, and to know how to appreciate true joy so that it will carry us through in times of sorrow. That sorrow allows us to appreciate true joy.

May angels lead you in, Bobby.

1 comment:

Beth Ann said...

Abbie - I'm sorry for your family's lose. I'm glad you were able to get to know him and his family better in August. I love the last paragraph -- that is so true!